Hasp-lock



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. LAMPKIN, OF BONDS, TENNESSEE.

HAS P-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,373, dated December 1, 1891. Application filed March 11,1891. Serial No. 384,675. (No model.)

To mutt/ham it may concern:

Be it known that I, OHAELEs B. LAMPKIN, of Bonds, in the county of Shelby and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Hasp-Locks, of which the following is a specification.

My improved hasp-lock is composed of a gravity catch or button, which is pivoted on a fixed staple or bolt, and thus adapted to be placed in horizontal position, so asto pass through the slot of the hasp when it auto-' matically assumes the vertical position, and thereby fastens the hasp. The button is beveled, as hereinafter described, to better adapt it to engage with and be disengaged from the hasp.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a hasp secured by my improved fastening. Fig. 2 is a crosssection at 2 2, Fig. 1, illustrating the operation of the fastening for engaging and disengaging it.

The hasp 1 is provided with a lengthwise slot 2, and also pivoted or hinged in the usual manner. On the staple 3 (set in the doorjamb in practice) is loosely pivoted a gravitybutton 4, which is adapted, in respect of form and thickness, to pass through the hasp-slot 2. The said button 4E is an oblong piece of iron having a transverse hole located nearer one end than the other, through which the staple 3 passes. The button being thus pivoted eccentrically hangs normally vertical. Its upper end is beveled inwardly from its pivotal point, and the lower outer corner is also removed to facilitate the passage of the button through the hasp-slot. When it is desired to lock the hasp to thestaple 3, the button 4 is turned into horizontal position, Fig. 2, so that its larger end passes first through the hasp-slot 2, as shown in Fig. 2, and it then drops by gravity into vertical position the instant its beveled upper end is free of said slot. To disengage the hasp, the weighted or lower end of the button is raised till the beveled upper end will enter the slot of the hasp, when thelatter slips free, (see full lines, Fig. 2,) as will be readily understood.

The fastening is exceedingly simple and cheap, yet strong, secure, and easily operated.

What I claim isl. Thecoinbination, with the hinged hasp and the fixed staple, of the oblong gravitybutton 4, which is adapted to pass entirely through the slot of the hasp and is pivoted and swings free on the staple, so that it will automatically assume and thereafter normally maintain the vertical position and lie across .the hasp on both sides of its slot, as shown and described.

2. The combination, with the pivoted hasp and a fixed staple, of the oblong button pivoted and swinging free on the latter and having its upper end beveled on the outer side and the other Weighted to adapt it to pass through the slot of the hasp and lock the latter, as shown and described.

CHARLES LAMPKIN. 

